Joshua Gunter/The Plain DealerOn a weekday in early May, the parking lot of the former Magic Johnson Randall Mall 12 theater stands empty more than an hour after opening. The AMC Entertainment chain left in March, and the "Magic" name came down, but the theater's owners and employees are trying to keep the business running.

Movies used to be "magic" in North Randall.

The 12-screen theater there was named for basketball giant Earvin "Magic" Johnson. In late 1999, Johnson cut a ribbon and welcomed moviegoers to the glitzy new theater.

By last March, the glitter was long gone. Citing crummy sales, theater operator AMC Entertainment pulled out. And, in a final crushing blow, the "Magic" signs came down.

But all the stripped signage, the wasteland of empty parking spots - and the dying Randall Park Mall on its back - did not force the theater to close. Instead, the theater's owners and employees banded together and began planning, promoting and pounding the pavement to bring it back to life.

They're fighting tough odds.

Retail in the tiny Village of North Randall has taken a painful, steady slide from the glory days of 1976, when Randall Park Mall opened with more than 200 stores. The property that developers once called the "world's largest shopping center" has become a cavernous echo chamber.

Sexier shopping centers sprang up within short driving distance. Developers shifted from enclosed malls to mixed-use projects and outdoor centers where shoppers could park at a store's doors.

Urban decay, crime and some high-profile violence - a security guard killed a shoplifter at the mall six years ago - didn't help perceptions. The thousands of nearby residents, with a median household income topping $40,000, took their money elsewhere.

Joshua Gunter/The Plain DealerLongtime employees Clyde Mitchell, left, and Darrel Shaw are handing out coupons and offering deals to bring moviegoers back to the former Magic Johnson theater. The O Theater - it's name under new management - has watched business drop as stores have left the attached Randall Park Mall and surrounding area

Clyde Mitchell watched the theater's patrons drain away. And Mitchell, who is 26 and has worked in theaters since age 15, saw his dream job become drudgery.

The mozzarella sticks disappeared. The nacho-cheese well went dry. Popping popcorn wasn't much fun anymore, without anyone to eat it or spill it in the aisles.

"When I first started working here, it was really great," said Mitchell, who started as an usher in 2000 and worked his way up to a manager's position. "You were happy to come to work every day."

Nearly nine years later, "I'm sitting here in an empty theater," he said.

Don Powers wants to change that.

A real estate investor living in Charlotte, N.C., Powers had owned theaters but never run one. Yet when AMC bailed out, Powers and the theater building's other owners stepped up. They bought AMC's equipment. They found a theater management company in Cincinnati. They kept getting first-run films.

And they came up with a new name: O Theater. (The "Magic" name was too expensive to keep. And "Ohio Theater" was taken.)

A new slogan: "O - What a Bargain!"

And new prices: $5 tickets Monday through Thursday, with movies for $7.50 on weekend nights.

Darrel Shaw, another longtime employee and the theater's manager, has been handing out coupons to family, to friends - to his pastor at church.

Even the coupons, offering two tickets for the price of one, aren't boosting traffic much. On a weekday, employees are lucky to sell 15 tickets. On blockbuster weekends, they might see 400 people.

The theater's largest auditorium seats 720.

Employees have seen their work hours, and paychecks, dwindle. To save on energy costs, they don't start a movie unless patrons show up.

"That's very difficult for us, because we're sitting in a theater all day that doesn't look any different than anybody else's theaters," Mitchell said. "On the one hand, you're getting paid to work. But on the other hand, you can't really do your job."

And they wonder about the mall. Whether Burlington Coat Factory and Sears, the remaining anchors, will follow Dillard's, JCPenney and Macy's out the door. Whether the lingering collection of nail salons, jewelry shops and stores touting gold teeth and tire rims does the theater any good. Whether there's any truth to rumors that mall owner Whichard Real Estate might sell.

"We hope somebody's going to get that mall and turn it around," Powers said. "I know it's not doing well right now, but I think it has some possibilities. I've seen other shopping centers turned around, and I've turned shopping centers around myself."

Whichard, which bought the mall in 2004 for about $6 million, did not return repeated calls seeking comment. Cuyahoga County records show the company owes more than $200,000 in unpaid property taxes and has taken out multiple mortgages on the mall. The mall's on-site manager declined to comment. David Smith, mayor of the Village of North Randall, also did not return repeated calls.

"If they're not going to do anything with it, they should make it clear," Mitchell said of the mall, which is surrounded by storefronts vacated by Circuit City, Toys 'R' Us, Dick's Sporting Goods and other retailers during the past decade.

The area has seen some bright spots, including Ohio Technical College's recent decision to move its PowerSport Institute into more than 200,000 square feet once occupied by JCPenney. Mayor Smith previously told The Plain Dealer that mixed-use development, not just retail, is important to the village's future.

Mitchell and other theater employees hope for a cinematic happy ending.

"I have to explore other opportunities as far as getting another job, with how hard times are right now with jobs in this country," Mitchell said. "I'm pretty sure I can get another job without a problem. But I've been doing stuff that I love."

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